


we were young in different circumstances (had the same set of questions)

by precognition



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Sabo Gets His Memories Back, kind of lol., there is not much else to say here, they're just chatting. just hanging out.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28060068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/precognition/pseuds/precognition
Summary: title lyrics from i hope i’m wrong - dessasabo and ace run into each other at a bar. koala and izou are almost as surprised as they are.
Relationships: Portgas D. Ace & Sabo
Comments: 10
Kudos: 98





	we were young in different circumstances (had the same set of questions)

**Author's Note:**

> uhh this is longer than i usually write which isn't saying much but it's really just people talking. sabo gets his memories back and he and ace have some things to talk about. yeah.

When it happens, Ace and Izo are sitting in the corner of some bar on the outskirts of Whitebeard territory, chatting about the mission they’re supposed to head out on the next day. Ace is drinking a mug of weak beer that he’ll probably still fall asleep in three times before the night is over, and Izo is delicately sipping at a glass of genshu, trying not to smudge his lipstick. Ace jolts up from almost nodding off again, and his hat falls from where it’s been resting on the back of his chair. Before he can hop up, though, a gloved hand is already lifting it off the floor to return to him. He looks up to thank the helpful stranger, and is greeted with the face of a ghost - a ghost that promptly turns white from shock, and proceeds to collapse. 

* * *

Sabo wakes up five minutes later, and politely attempts to dislodge Koala’s vice-like grip from around Ace’s neck. He’s sure the only reason she hasn’t choked the life out of him yet is the pistol Ace’s friend has aimed at her temple. He opens his mouth to explain, but is thwarted by the solid punch Ace directs towards his face. Sabo could dodge, reflexes honed by years training with Hack and Dragon, but he doesn’t. He figures he owes Ace this one, at least. It does nothing to reassure Koala, of course, and she has a well-trained hand to Ace’s jugular in seconds. He freezes, and his friend fires a warning shot over Koala’s shoulder.

Sabo sighs. While his partner’s quick thinking and quicker reflexes are useful in most situations, in this particular case, it only serves to heighten the tension in the room.

“Stand down, Koala.” Ace and his friend both look at Sabo curiously, but Koala knows when he’s being serious. She drops her hand from Ace’s neck, and moves to stand next to her partner.

“This is my brother - Ace.”

Koala shrieks, Ace starts crying, Ace’s friend takes another sip of his drink, and the four of them promptly get kicked out of the bar.

* * *

Koala refuses to let Ace and his friend, who introduces himself as Izo, back to their hotel room. Privately, Sabo agrees with her - brother or not, they are still revolutionaries, and he won’t put his people in jeopardy because of sentiment. But Ace is more than happy to invite them back to the inn he’s staying in, and if Izo has reservations, he doesn’t express them. 

They’re mostly quiet on the walk there - Ace is still looking at Sabo as if he can’t believe he’s really there, and Koala and Izo seem to be primarily assessing each others’ threat levels. Sabo spends the time considering the decade’s worth of memories that he had believed were lost forever. He rubs at the seam of his glove, trying to fit together the child he forgot with the one he remembers. It’s more difficult than he thought, but easy at the same time. He supposes it’s to be expected - after all, the child in his memories is still him.

The inn is a scant few minutes away, and almost before he knows it, Sabo is settled on a creaking bed, cross-legged next to the brother he didn’t know he had until today. Koala and Izo are settled on a pair of uncomfortable-looking chairs upholstered in a fading linen. Ace reaches out a hand to touch Sabo’s shoulder, and then pulls back, as if thinking better of it. He sits in silence for another few seconds before he finally speaks.

“You could have  _ called _ .” He tries for humor, but the choke in his throat betrays him. “We thought you were dead, Sabo. Dogma said he saw your boat -” He cuts off.

Sabo’s jaw clenches. His thumb is worrying at the seam of his gloves again. “I had amnesia. Have for the last ten years. The only thing I remembered when Dragon fished me out of the water was that I wouldn’t - couldn’t go back to High Town. I didn’t remember shit about you or.” He breaks off.

“Luffy cried. For days.” Ace won’t meet Sabo’s eyes.

“Of course he did. He always was a crybaby.” Sabo doesn’t let his face change from its slight smile. He has practice.

Ace sighs and drops his arm from where it’s been hovering, and Sabo finally notices the tattoo inked there. At first glance, he thinks Ace was dumb enough to misspell his own name - honestly, Sabo wouldn’t put it past him. The crossed out S tugs at a thread in his new memories though, and he can’t stop a slow grin from spreading across his face.

“Aaaaace…” He drags out the A, just to piss his brother off. “You got a tattoo as a tribute to me? That’s so cute!” He reaches out to pinch Ace’s freckled cheeks, the same way he did when they were younger.

Ace starts crying then, because  _ holy shit Sabo is alive _ , and Sabo laughs at him and tells him he was acting like a bereaved girlfriend or some shit, and Ace starts hitting him with a pillow to make him shut up, and it’s like the tension was never there at all.

* * *

After ten minutes, a scuffle that had to be broken up by Koala, and either far too many jokes about Ace being like a sad housewife whose husband died at sea (in Ace’s opinion) or not enough (in Sabo’s), the two were once again sitting cross-legged next to each other on the bed - but this time, looking more like chastised children than anything.

Koala sighs. “So, I know Sabo-kun hates to make anything easy.” 

“Hey!” Sabo interjects. “I’ll have you know it’s perfectly easy to get me into -”

Koala continues on as if he hasn’t even spoken. “But would someone here mind explaining what just happened? I’d rather not be left in the dark, especially since this could -”   
  


Again, Sabo interrupts. “It’s not going to affect our business here, Koala. You know as well as I do that I would’ve told you already if that were the case.”

Izo raises an eyebrow at this, but declines to comment. His watchful stare remains on the two revolutionaries, though. 

“Sabo  _ died _ .” Ace says, pouting.

“I did  _ not _ !” Sabo responds, equally as petulant. “I just lost my memory.”

“We thought you were dead, isn’t it the same thing?”

“No, of course it’s not the same. If it were the same I wouldn’t be sitting here right now talking to you, idiot.”

“It sure felt like the same thing when you disappeared after your ship got set on  _ fire _ , you know.” 

Sabo rolls his eyes. “But it wasn’t, and I’m here now, so stop being a brat. I thought you said real men don’t cry.”

Both Izo and Koala raise their eyebrows at this, and Ace gives them a sheepish grin, before tackling Sabo again, starting off another scuffle.

* * *

Izo sighs -  _ children, honestly  _ \- and turns to Koala. “So, what’s the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army doing on the edge of Whitebeard territory, hm?” He gives her a small smile.

She smiles back, showing all her teeth. “Just passing through, of course,” she lies. “What about two of the Whitebeard Pirates’ division commanders, hm? Trouble in town?”

“Nothing of the sort.” Izo lies back. “Just stretching our legs, that’s all.”

He drops his smile, and Koala favors him with dropping hers in return. The two of them assess each other coolly for a few moments, before Koala breaks out in a much more genuine grin.

“I won’t press if you don’t. That being said, surely you have some embarrassing stories about Ace to tell me? It’ll be useful to hang them over Sabo’s head later - sometimes he needs a little bit of encouragement to act like a good boy.”

Izo grins back. “Ace is much the same way. A trade, then?” 

They shake on it. Koala notes that Izo’s grip is stronger than she expected, given that he didn’t seem to favor hand to hand combat. 

As if sensing the lack of animosity from the armchairs, Ace and Sabo’s heads swivel around to look at their companions. “What are you plotting?” They ask in unison, before looking at each other and breaking out in giggles. 

Izo smiles indulgently. “Nothing at all.”

Koala nods in agreement. “Absolutely nothing.”

“I know that smile.” Ace informs Sabo. “That’s the smile he has when he’s absolutely plotting something. This one time, he and Thatch were trying to convince me to let them put makeup on me, and that was the  _ exact _ smile he had right before he pounced.”

Sabo brightens at the mention of makeup. “Would he do my makeup?” He bats his eyelashes at Izo in a way that he probably thinks is endearing, but that Koala privately thinks is just debasing.

“If you asked politely.” Izo responds, clearly delighted at the opportunity.

Sabo happily bounces over to talk concealer with Izo, and Koala takes the opportunity to seize the spot next to Ace on the bed.

* * *

She gives him her sweetest grin. “So. Portgas D. Ace, twenty years old, from the East Blue, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, former Captain of the Spade Pirates, currency bounty of 550,000,000 belli.”

Ace blinks at her. “Uh. Hi.” He moves as if to tip his hat, only to realize that it’s been knocked somewhere to the side in the scuffle. “Koala-san.”

She stifles a giggle. “Just Koala is fine, since you’re a friend of Sabo-kun’s. I’m surprised you two are related, you’re so...polite.” 

He gives her a sheepish grin. “Makino-san taught us that manners were important. I guess that lesson took better with me than with the other two.”

“Two?” She asks.

“Yeah, our other brother, Luffy.” Ace pulls a crumpled bounty poster out of his pocket, and shows it to Koala. The smiling face on it is familiar to her - she recalls hearing about Arlong Park and the rookie who took it down from Betty in the East. “He’s incredible, you know. I swear he’s going to be King of the Pirates someday - only 17 and his bounty is already 30,000,000 belli, the highest in the East Blue.” 

Ace continues gushing about his little brother, and Koala nods in the appropriate places, carefully filing away any relevant information she picks up. When he finishes, she gives him another smile. “He sounds incredible.” She means it, and when Ace beams at her sincerely she almost feels guilty for not paying full attention to his little monologue.

He nods at her partner and Izo, still engaged in a conversation about the pros and cons of waterproof mascara. “Not a fan of makeup, then?”   
  


Koala gives a little snort. “Just cause I’m a woman, you mean? No, it’s never appealed to me.” Ace opens his mouth to protest, but she waves a hand. “I’ve picked up enough from Sabo to carry on a conversation, but I much prefer more practical things.”

He seems to brighten up at this. “Oh, good. I’ve been meaning to ask someone about the particulars of knife cleaning, and although Izo is  _ incredible _ with guns, he’s just not the same with a blade.”

“You’ve come to the right place.” Koala motions for the knife resting at his side. “Watch and learn.”

* * *

Izo is almost sorry when they have to leave the next day. It had been nice to talk to someone who appreciated the finer points of clothing and makeup, both in espionage and casually, and, once Koala had warmed up slightly, she was an invaluable source of information. He trades den den mushi numbers with her before they part ways - “if the boys aren’t clogging up the lines”.

Sabo and Ace say their goodbyes privately, but when Ace exits the room, he’s tucking something into the band of his hat, and Sabo has a hand in his coat’s inner pocket. Izo decides not to comment on the dangers of giving your vivre card to someone who isn’t a direct ally, just this once. It’s not as though it’ll change Ace’s mind, anyway.

As they part ways, he can’t help but wonder - Sabo clearly didn’t remember Ace in the slightest. If they hadn’t happened to run into each other in the bar that day, would they ever have seen each other again?

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment if you liked or if you didn't maybe we can kiss


End file.
